


This is when (poison set in)

by Nikita (accioidioto)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M, lil bit o angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-11 00:52:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12311409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accioidioto/pseuds/Nikita
Summary: Remus Lupin character study before James died.





	This is when (poison set in)

At first, it had seemed so exciting. They became Adults. Remus and Sirius got their own place, James and Lily living in a cosy apartment accessible by Floo.

 

Peter was forgotten. This was the first mistake.

 

The second was that while they were all part of Dumbledore’s Army, Remus was a Werewolf. A Peter was unemployed. But Sirius and James, mighty purebloods-and-friends, were Aurors.

 

So Remus would sit, in their flat, researching Voldemort. Because Regulus had joined, and Sirius had blasted all their plates to the ground after seeing his Dark Mark.  _ He was always a sentimental idiot _ , Sirius had said. His mouth was pressed tight, flat, and he was shaking.

 

Remus hadn’t known what to do.

 

This is when it all starts to fall apart.

***

They receive a prophecy, right after New Years. Dumbledore thinks it’s James and Lily, and he fears that they will become the Dark Lord’s next targets.

 

Sirius vanishes, with a loud  _ Pop _ .

 

James goes sheet white, and Lily slams her face into an unreadable mask.

 

Remus feels like a moron. He doesn’t know how to handle this, because it is Harry growing inside of Lily, where her gold wedding ring is shining.

 

(Remus had gotten drunk out of his mind on Firewhiskey, the evening of the wedding, Sirius laughing into his mouth, fingers tangling into his hair.

 

_ Moony _ , he had said.  _ Remus _ .)

 

Lily looks at him, and he drags her clumsily into a hug. He understood the way she thought, much like him. They were the Rational Ones.

 

She smells like lilacs, and cinnamon. The firelight catches in her hair, and for one terrifying moment he thinks she is burning, alight on fire, right there.

 

(When he gets home that night, Sirius is drunk out of his mind.

 

_ Remus _ , he says.  _ Moony _ .)

 

***

Which is when Peter becomes their Keeper. Which is when they die, baby Harry whisked away into the Dursleys’ loathing arms.

 

Which is when Sirius is branded as the traitor.

 

Which is when Remus goes on the run.

 

Which is when, somehow, Remus end up believing  _ them _ , and not  _ him _ .


End file.
